The
information provided in the Contaminant Exposure and Effects-Terrestrial
Vertebrates (CEE-TV) Database profiles available geo-referenced information
on contaminant exposure and effects in terrestrial vertebrates along the U.
S. Atlantic, Gulf, and Pacific coasts (including
Hawaii
and
Alaska
) and the
Great
Lakes.
Sources of data are provided on a separate list of over 1,250 references. The database
contains 20,600 records and is approximately 25 MB.

b. Unpublished biomonitoring data (research
manuscripts in press and unpublished reports of state government) were
obtained from written requests for information.

c. Published and unpublished data on animals that presumably died of
contaminant exposure that are documented in the Environmental Protection
Agency Ecological Incident Information System. Only data in the "highly
probable" or "probable" categories were included. Data from
animals intentionally poisoned were excluded.

The
following section describes the data entry fields in CEE-TV. The underlined
words reported the field headings as they appear on printouts.

Field 1 - Unique consecutive 5-6 digit, first describing the State (digit 1
or digits 1 and 2: State ID codes below) and then describing the record number (digits 2, 3, 4, and 5 or
digits 3, 4, 5, and 6).

Field 6 - Taxonomic class of species (Aves, Reptilia, Amphibia,
or Mammalia)

Fields 7 and 8 - Initiation Year (Year
From) and Completion Year (Year To) during which the sample in the record was
collected. The format for this field is "YYYY" (e.g., 1998). If
this field is blank, the information could not be found in the report.

Field 9 - Season, Month or Day during which the sample was collected (Date). If this field is blank, the
information could not be found in the report.

Field 10 - The "specific" name of the location (e.g.,
Island
,
Wildlife Refuge, City, Town, County) where the sample was collected.
Occasionally, multiple sites have the identical specific name (e.g.,
Maine
has 19 sites named
BlackIsland
).
An asterisk denotes that a specific location is not known, and the State or
Province Capital, County Seat or other locations have been assigned as the
collection site. If a vague state or province location is given, the
coordinates for the state or province capital are used for geo-referencing
(Atlantic Flyway*). If only a county within the state or province is given
(e.g.,
Carroll County
,
MD
) and specific coordinates are not
given, the county name would appear in this field (i.e., Carroll Co.*) and
coordinates for the County Seat would appear in Fields 14 and 15. If a county
within the state or province and specific coordinates are given in the
source, the county name would appear in this field (i.e.,
CarrollCounty
)
and the coordinates given would appear in Fields 14 and 15.

Field 11 - The State or Province (using a
two letter abbreviation) from which the sample was collected.

Field 71 - Toxic equivalents (TEQ)
derived mathematically from the product of concentration of an arylhydrocarbon receptor-active contaminant and toxic
equivalency factors.

Field 72 - Concentration units for TEQs predicted mathematically. If unit has asterisk, TEQs were derived by bioassay.

Abbreviation

Units
of Concentration

pg/g

picograms per gram; parts per trillion (ppt)

pg/g ww

picograms per gram wet weight

pg/g fw

picograms per gram fresh weight

pg/g lw

picograms per gram lipid weight

Field 73 - Organophosphorus - "Yes" indicates organophosphorus pesticide detected in tissues or gastrointestinal tract. "No"
indicates that organophosphorus pesticides were
looked for and not found. A blank field indicates organophosphorus pesticides were not investigated.

Field 74 - Carbamates - "Yes" indicates carbamate pesticide
detected in tissues or gastrointestinal tract. "No" indicates that carbamate pesticides were looked for and not found. A
blank field indicates carbamate pesticides were not
investigated.

Field 75 - Avicides -
"Yes" indicates avicides detected in
tissues or gastrointestinal tract. "No" indicates that avicides were looked for and not found. A blank field
indicates avicides were not investigated.

Field 76 - Rodenticides - "Yes" indicates rodenticides detected
in tissues or gastrointestinal tract. "No" indicates that rodenticides were looked for and not found. A blank field
indicates rodenticides were not investigated.

Fields 77-98 - Metal or metalloid concentration. Where possible, metal
concentrations were reported in ug/g in order to
facilitate database searches.

Field 105 - Oil -
"Yes" indicates petroleum hydrocarbons detected in tissues,
gastrointestinal tract, or externally. "No" indicates that
petroleum hydrocarbons were looked for and not found. A blank field indicates
that petroleum hydrocarbons were not investigated.

Field 115 - Biomarker value is a measurement of response (e.g., %, value, descriptive change) in
qualitative or quantitative terms.

Field 116 - Units of
the Response for Biomarker value.

Field 117 - Reference field describes source of the record.

Field 118 - The "Other"
field provides explanatory information unique to each record (e.g., sex or
age of collected specimen, other contaminants measured, statistical
information, biomarker information, etc.).

Utilization and Special Codes

a.
Quantitative information (viz., contaminant concentrations, year of
collection) are "numeric" fields, and all other information (e.g.,
common name, location, matrix, sample size, references, etc.) including
coordinates are "character" fields.

b. Some data integrity is lost in Access. Values ending with placeholder
zeroes in decimal places are truncated. For example, a source reporting 0.10 ug/g wet weight DDE will appear in the database as 0.1 ug/g wet weight. In order to
determine the actual number of significant figures in the data requires
review of the referenced source information.

c. The code "-2" indicates that the matrix was analyzed for a
specific contaminant, but it was not detected. Values in source documents
reported with a "<" or as "0" were coded as
"-2".

d. The code "-1" indicates that trace quantities of a particular
contaminant were detected.